Star Trek

[Sparky Prime]

Vox in Excelso

Spoiler

The Doctor begins instructing the cadets on debate in preparation for an upcoming competition. Jay-den, finds the task especially difficult due to a fear of public speaking. News arrives that a Klingon transport, carrying the 8 remaining Houses, has crashed, and Jay-den's family may have been aboard. Turns out, Qo'noS was rendered uninhabitable when the dilithium reactors on the planet exploded during the Burn, and the remaining Klingons have become nomadic hunters. Jay-den remembers how his brother was the only one who understood his desire not to be a warrior, and would acquire Starfleet technology for him. Eventually he was killed when he tried to get a dermal regenerator. After failing to make his first kill during a hunt, and his father angerly failing to hit his mark, the family abandoned Jay-den.

The cadets decide they want to debate on the topic of the Klingon refugee crisis, which the Doctor is apprehensive about, but ultimately agrees, warning the cadets to keep to the facts of the situation, given the recent tragedy. Meanwhile, the Federation has a planet, Faan Alpha, that matches all the conditions as Qo'noS, which would be perfect for a new Klingon homeworld. But the leader of the remaining Houses, Obel Wochak, refuses, as the Klingons don't want Federation charity. Darem shows Jay-den a Khionian breathing technique to help him calm for the debate, but the debate still doesn't go well for the Klingon when things get personal between him and Caleb. Lura Thok talks to Jay-den, and tells him his father wouldn't have missed the shot just because he was angry, and that it was his way of allowing him to follow his own path. Jay-den retakes the debate stage, arguing if they want to help the Klingon's, they need to do it in a way that respects their culture.

Inspired by the cadet's argument, several Starfleet starships warp to Faan Alpha, where they inform Obel Wochak the Klingons are trespassing into Federation territory. Realizing the ploy, Obel calls in the Klingon fleet to battle Starfleet. Despite only causing a 5% drain to their shields, the Stafleet ships retreat, and the Klingons claim the planet for their "victory". Obel gives Jay-den a Klingon bow to symbolize his role in the conflict making him a Klingon warrior and tells him his family is still alive. Jay-den and Caleb reconcile.

I've seen some people complaining about the language used in this series... I haven't commented on it because the occasional modern day slag or curse word isn't obtrusive enough to bother me that much usually... But this episode had a scene that felt a bit heavy handed with it, culminating with the Doctor going out of his way to explain to a cadet his right to be able to call him a "chickenshit".

Not a fan of the idea that the Klingons were nearly wiped out by the Burn. The writers are basically doing the same thing they did to the Romulans having their homeworld destroyed by a super nova, while forgetting both of these races had vast Empires that rival the Federation. And also somewhat reminiscent of Star Trek 6. Only, the Klingons were willing to talk and accept help in that situation... Anyway, the loss of their homeworld would be a big deal, but it shouldn't make them an endangered species given all the colonies and whatever else they'd have throughout their territory.

Daniels told Archer in an episode of Enterprise that the Klingons had joined the Federation by the 26th century. This episode would seem to indicate they remained their own separate Empire...

I don't understand why the Klingons in this episode reject any and all Federation technology. Sure, it plays into this episodes theme of the Klingons not wanting it to appear they are taking any charity... but a communication device (which simply plays a recording that Starfleet Academy is recruiting) and a dermal regenerator aren't exactly they most advanced of items. What happened to the Klingon's technology? They still have ships capable of warp, yet this episode makes it seem like they've regressed technologically. I think this is the first time we've seen a Klingon bow and arrow. Seemed odd we don't see a bladed weapon, although Jay-den's brother apparently got stabbed by a poisoned blade off screen.

Klingon families generally share the same forehead ridges, but all the members of Jay-den's family had different patterns. Apparently Klingons have also adopted last names. I wasn't sure before, with Jay-den being somewhat of an outsider, but this episode confirms it.

The episode makes a big deal about this one Klingon ship that crashes, which apparently had the last 8 Klingon Houses. I'm assuming they meant the last 8 Great Klingon Houses, given a whole Klingon fleet shows up at the end of the episode.

Lura Thok tells Jay-den her father is a member of the free Jem'Hadar. I'm hoping they continue to develop her backstory, because that sounds like an interesting development with the Dominion.

The USS Athena can separate the inner top section of the saucer from the rest of the ship, which apparently has its own warp drive, despite only having a visible impulse engine. So, why do they need nacelles?

I liked the solution they came up with at the end, but I wish they had dressed it up a bit more. It was too easy, and I don't think the Klingons would have been satisfied with such an easy victory.

This was the best episode of Starfleet Academy so far. A bit simple with the plot at times, but it felt like the most Star Trek-like story they've done.

[andersonh1]

I've seen a picture of the Klingon in a skirt, which just looks ridiculous. The Captain pulling her feet up and lounging in the captain's chair while not displaying any professional dignity or decorum is just as dumb. I've also read about the profanity in the series. There's such a thing as judicious use of swearing in drama for dramatic impact, and then there's not understanding Star Trek at all.

https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/s ... -trek.html

"That’s the ultimate problem with the vulgarity in Starfleet Academy: rather than talking like 32nd-century characters who are studying to be the best of the best, they are swearing every other word like characters in the 20th century. Kirk himself identified this as behavior so archaic that visitors from the 23rd century can barely understand the vulgar phrases people are saying. But in Starfleet Academy, characters alive nearly a millennium later are constantly cursing like sailors and generally reminding us how much this franchise has regressed.

Star Trek fans, it’s time to get real: the distractingly modern dialogue has already dated Starfleet Academy, and the constant cursing makes no sense within the canon of the franchise. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the show on its own merits, but it’s far past time the fandom stops making excuses for poor writing. The bottom line is that this show doesn’t sound like Star Trek on any level, making it increasingly difficult for anyone who has seen a single episode of The Original Series or The Next Generation to take any of this very seriously."

[Ursus mellifera]

This is definitely Star Trek as done by the CW.

[andersonh1]

This is definitely Star Trek as done by the CW.

Very much so!

[Sparky Prime]

I've seen a picture of the Klingon in a skirt, which just looks ridiculous.

He wears a skirt? I haven't seen that in an episode yet. *google search*. Huh. That's not what I was expecting. I was thinking it'd be something Klingon inspired, like how Worf wore a baldric. But just a standard Starfleet uniform skirt? It looks really out of place on Jay-den.

The Captain pulling her feet up and lounging in the captain's chair while not displaying any professional dignity or decorum is just as dumb.

I'm wondering if it has something to do with her being Lanthanite. Pelia (Carol Kane) in Strange New Worlds is... quirky as well, and is the only other Lanthanite we've seen. I wish both of these characters would be professional at least when they are in a professional setting.

I've also read about the profanity in the series. There's such a thing as judicious use of swearing in drama for dramatic impact, and then there's not understanding Star Trek at all.

The last episode especially took me out of it with how far they went with it then even called attention to it by having the Doctor defend it. I feel like the EMH would be the last character to defend using profanity given his origins from a legacy series.

This is definitely Star Trek as done by the CW.

Yeah, for sure.

[Sparky Prime]

Series Acclimation Mil

Spoiler

The Kasqian creators of the Series Acclimation Mil program aka SAM, the holographic cadet, are not happy with the progress she has been making in learning about organics, and order her to take "Confronting the Unexplainable". Because she sees herself as an emissary of the Kasqian to organics, she immediately identifies with the story of Benjamin Sisko when she learns he was the Emissary to the Prophets, and sets out to solve the mystery of what happened to him. She begins to learn all about The Sisko, asking Bajorans about him, giving food from Sisko's restaurant to her fellow cadets, visiting a holographic representation of the Sisko museum, and the cadets all go the The Academy, a bar that is in the same place The Launching Pad used to be that Sisko visited in his cadet days.

Ultimately, SAM learns nothing new about Captain Sisko and gives up trying to solve the mystery. It turns out, the instructor for the "Confronting the Unexplainable" class has the only copy of Jake's book, Anslem, that he finished but never published. She allows SAM to borrow it to read and, somehow, SAM has a conversation with Jake that gives her the insights she's really been looking for. Despite Sisko's life being predetermined by the Profits, he still lived his life for himself, and SAM decides she must do the same, despite her purpose being predetermined by her Kasqian creators. Asking the instructor how she got Jake's book, she reveals her full name is Illa Dax.

Yikes. I'm not even sure where to begin with my comments. This episode was the epidemy of Star Trek done by CW, being presented with a lot of fourth wall breaking, and juvenile graphics. This may date me a bit, but it reminded me of shows like "Clarissa Explains it All". Easily the worst episode of Starfleet Academy so far IMO... SAM deciding to investigate the mystery of Benjamin Sisko's disappearance because he was the Emissary to the Prophets, and she considers herself to be an emissary for her people, was a pretty weak to base the story of the episode around. And what she investigates is just who he was as a person, making the episode more about her own road to self discovery, having nothing to do with Sisko's disappearance. I liked it, but it was a sloppy way to set it up.

Cirroc Lofton reprises his role as Jake Sisko in this episode, which was the one highlight of the episode. He first appears as a hologram, giving an interview about his father. Later on, he somehow appears to SAM and they have conversation. How they're able to have this conversation is not explained. I mean, they imply it's all in SAM's mind, but she doesn't seem to realize this. She even asks him if he'll disappear when she closes his book. It's a printed paper book, not a holo-emitter.

Speaking of his book... This episode established Jake became an accomplished author, yet the one novel he wrote he never published, which everyone in the 32nd century somehow knows about anyway. Sure, he may have written various articles and shorts, but I dunno, just doesn't seem like that accomplished of a writer if he didn't even publish one novel.

Oddly, Jake started wearing a Bajoran earring and is the same design as the 32nd century Bajorans, not the 24th century earrings.

Illa Dax is played by Tawny Newsome, who also played Beckett Mariner in Lower Decks and Strange New World. And wrote this episode which explains some of the comedy. Illa is a Cardassian/Trill hybrid. The Cardassian makeup was pretty bad, and I'm assuming they only did it just to disguise her Trill heritage for the surprise reveal at the end. Not sure how SAM didn't already know her name just from the class directory or something. This makes the Dax symbiont 1177 years old. Not sure how this works continuity wise... Previously, its been established 550 years is typically the lifespan of a symbiont, and the Bix symbiont in Discovery had lived longer than most, being around 800 years.

Strangely, we never see Benjamin Sisko's face in this episode. Every time they show him, it's in shadow or silhouette. There's a line about the Bajorans not wanting his face to be seen anymore because he transcended his physical form or whatever...So, is Starfleet respecting the Bajorans beliefs by not showing his face? I haven't seen any real world explanation for it. There is some dialog from Avery Brooks at the end of the episode, apparently from a Jazz album he released in 2006 that he gave his blessing for them to use.

Disappointing that Sisko apparently didn't return in Jake and Kasidy's lifetime. I'm guessing it isn't common knowledge that Sisko appeared to Kasidy and told her he would return someday, despite not knowing when in time. They only seem to know for sure that he disappeared in the fire caves, and it's just commonly believed he joined the Prophets in the Celestial Temple. Seems they forgot that Kasidy was pregnant at the end of DS9. The Sisko family tree in the Sisko museum is missing that child, and Jake never mentions having a sibling. Captain Sisko's mother is also wrong. They label Jenna Sisko as his mother and a non-corporeal (which they misspell) being. But it was Sara who was his mother, and was fully human, albeit possessed by a Prophet.

Apparently the Bajorans allowed one of the Orbs of the Prophets to be displayed in the Sisko museum on Earth. Kinda doubt they'd allow them go after the Cardassians stole most of them during the occupation. SAM talks to it, believing it to be like a communication device, even though she should know this isn't the real Orb. Strangely, they had a typewriter displayed as well that looked like something Sisko's Benny Russell persona would have used... If so, it shouldn't be in this museum.

Jay-den wears the skirt uniform for the first time in this episode. I had hoped they'd give some context for it, but nope. It appears they are developing a love triangle between him, Kyle Djokovic (one of the War College cadets) and Darem Reymi. I thought it would have been a great allegory to see a Klingon conflicted about not being a warrior and is gay, but nope, these last two episodes made all of that a non-issue.

I don't really understand this SAM character. So, she was created to learn about organics by the Kasqians, because they were once used as tools by organics, and they want to see if it's safe to open up to organics again. So... why exactly does SAM need to be in Starfleet Academy for that? And why did they make her so... inadequately programmed for her apparent age? I mean, there is potential for the character, but I don't like how they're writing her. It feels like a rehash of what we already saw with the EMH on Voyager, only those writers did it better.

I guess alcohol laws have changed by the 32nd century? Some of these cadets are supposed to be 17-18 years old, yet they can get drunk at a bar? And what happened to synthehol? I guess holo-emitters are everywhere? SAM is able to go to the bar, off campus, no problem. I would have liked some reference to it, or maybe a mobile emitter.

There's a b story where Ake, the Doctor and Reno help Kelrec prepare for a meeting. It felt like a waste of time.

[Sparky Prime]

Come, Let's Away

Spoiler

The Athena is conducting a joint training mission between Starfleet Academy and the War College to the USS Miyazaki, a derelict ship in the middle of a starship graveyard. The Miyazaki had an experimental singularity drive that apparently failed to work and killed the entire crew. The training mission involves a team going aboard and restoring power. Caleb is able to restore life support in record time, but the away team is quickly captured by Furies, a group of human/alien hybrid pirates. They demand a ransom and set up a jamming field to prevent communication and transport. The cadets fight their captors, resulting in Commander Tomov sacrificing himself, and they are able to lock themselves on the Miyazaki bridge, making them safe... at least until the Furies are able to cut through the door. So they start working on getting the computer operational.

Startfleet, based on past experience, knows the Furies will probably kill the hostages either way and need a plan of attack. The only one that has successfully fought them off, apparently, is Nus Braka, so they call him in to negotiate a deal for any help he can provide. Meanwhile, Genesis finds a means to locate the Furies cloaked ship in the debris, but it'll take time for a probe to pinpoint the location. Tarima is able to tele... "mind speak" with Caleb thanks to their, earlier relations in the episode, and. Ake suspects Braka still has problems with the Furies, but gives into his demands anyway. Admiral Vance calls in the USS Sargasso, armed with a sonic weapon the Furies are weak to because they're essentially part bat, from its post protecting Starbase J-19 Alpha to assist. Tarima tells Caleb to get the singularity drive operational, because it can disrupt the jamming field, just as they locate the cloaked ship. Which turns out to be Braka's ship. It quickly fires on the Sargasso and Athena, as the Furies break into the Miyazaki bridge. Tarima unleashes a telepathic sonic scream, killing the Furies. Braka's ship leaves, the entire situation being just a diversion in order to steal the classified technology on J-19 Alpha, and the cadets are beamed back, although B'Avi is killed, SAM suffers some... damage I guess and Tarim is in a coma.

This mission should have taken place on a holodeck. Being the first year for these cadets, it doesn't make sense they'd be in space on a real ship, especially one that has an experimental drive that somehow killed the entire crew. I vaguely recall another series saying they don' have real space missions until their 3rd year.

Why does Commander Tomov say he's been stuck on the ship for months and is desperate for shore leave? Given the Athena is on Earth most of the time, I find it hard to believe he hasn't had any time off the ship.

The USS Miyazaki is clearly a 23rd century era ship. The CGI model appears to be a new design, but it reuses elements of the Strange New Worlds Enterprise. And the interiors are clearly redressed SNW Enterprise sets. The episode even has a comic book that is based on the adventures of the Miyazaki, which uses TOS era uniforms. Yet, the episode would have us believe this ship has a 31st century era registry number and was testing out an experimental singularity drive? I could forgive reusing sets, at least they mostly disguised that, but they went out of their way to make it look like a ship that should be 900 years out of date.

The Miyazaki computer starts to listen to the cadets when they tell it they are its new crew, and show it the comic book to I guess prove that the old crew was dead... And I know it's malfunctioning, but this made no sense.

They never explain the singularity drive. Presumably, it was one of the drives they were hoping could replace conventional warp drive following the Burn. It's also not clear how it resulted in the crews death. They make it sound at one point like it destroyed the ship, but that's clearly not the case. Braka makes it sound like the systems shut down one by one, until they all died. But if that were the case, couldn't they have evacuated? But then, Braka also says the same thing happened to Ake's son, but he was supposedly killed during the Burn, when his ship exploded. So I doubt we can take his word for it.

The away team wear these suits with built in "plasma-shields", which they deactivate when they get life support back online. So... how come they don't use these shields when the Furies attack them?

The Furies are apparently part Lynar, which doesn't make any sense. The Lynar are species of bat on Celtris III, not unlike Earth bats. They weren't evolved enough for it to be possible for them to have mixed with humans. They have this odd phase shifting effect that is never explained.

Once again, they have the Betazoids wrong, with Ocam explaining they can only "sense stuff", while a rare few, like his sister, have full telepathy. I don't know how the writers could get that so wrong. And for some reason, Tarima also has a sonic scream, which I guess is why her father is deaf. And she can transmit it though telepathy? So they're just making up powers for well established aliens now.

On the same note... How exactly was the sonic weapon the USS Sargasso supposed to have going to work in space? They invent technology by the 32nd century that allows sound to travel in space?

Braka's ship takes out the Sargasso way too easily. Just a couple hits and they say it's completely disabled. Although the fireball makes it look like it was destroyed. If it was that easy, not sure why they felt the need to lure it away from the J-19 Alpha space station. And didn't the Athena destroy Braka's ship in the first episode? Or is this another ship of the same design?

How exactly did Braka get onto and off of the Athena? I mean, they show him arrive from an airlock, but I didn't catch any explanation about a ship arriving, or anything at all about him leaving. And... did they really even need to call him of all people for help? They know the Furies are human/alien hybrids, but what, their sensors couldn't figure out the other half?

So the thing Braka asks for is for the Federation to stop supplying Taygeta 1 with dilithium because he has access to two unstable wormhole that had allowed FTL travel between it and Taygeta 4. Having their own warp drive again is cutting into his business. But, given the names, these should be two planets in the same solar system. That'd only take like 4-5 hours at impulse, they don't need FTL travel for that. And if these are unstable wormholes Braka is using, they'd be temporary and potentially dangerous to use anyway. Not to mention, with how rare wormholes are, it's very unlikely there would happen to be not one, but two for coinvent travel between these two planets and Braka's "Raktajino stand" between them.

Not sure how SAM could be damaged by phaser fire, when phasers usually pass right through a hologram.

So yeah... I did not like this episode. It was poorly written, poorly paced and if they did any research, clearly they didn't do a good job of it.